Regular para Proteger

When PL 2630 (Brazil’s bill on platform regulation) reached a decisive week, we turned a complex policy debate into a single, unforgettable image: empty school backpacks placed on the lawn in front of Brazil’s National Congress. The installation worked as a cenotaph—a memorial made of absence—so the press could carry the message further than our budget ever could.

On the day of the vote on the bill regulating social media, an Avaaz installation set up in front of Brazil’s National Congress recalls victims of school massacres over the last 10 years. There are 35 empty backpacks representing the 35 people who are no longer in Brazil’s schools because social media is not regulated to curb violent speech. The action calls for the approval of Bill 2630 (PL 2630) to protect children. Photo: Andressa Anholete / Handout

Why this mattered

PL 2630 put platform accountability at the center of Brazil’s public conversation. The debate was loud, technical, and emotionally charged—exactly the kind of context where people tend to “pick a side” before they understand the stakes.

Our constraint was simple: we had budget for communications, not for scale. No mass mobilization, no big stagecraft. If we wanted reach, we needed the kind of message that travels on its own—especially through journalism.

The strategic idea

I designed the campaign around one sign: the backpack.

The inspiration came from a father after the Blumenau school attack, leaving the daycare with what was left to hold, saying: “Só sobrou a mochila do meu filho.” (“Only my son’s backpack was left.”)

That sentence is brutally direct, but semiotically precise: a backpack isn’t a metaphor you have to decode. It’s an index—a physical trace that points to a person who should be there. When it’s left behind, it points to absence with almost no need for narration.

So we treated the backpack as a public sign of responsibility: not a prop, not decoration, but a cenotaph—a sober memorial form that honors victims through what is missing.

The stunt: designing a press image (not just an action)

    I envisioned and coordinated a photo-op installation on the lawn in front of Brazil’s National Congress on the day the vote was expected: 35 empty backpacks, arranged as a memorial to victims of school attacks and tied to the campaign message calling for regulation to protect children.

    Brasília is a city where politics becomes visible at a distance: wide lawns, monumental architecture, long horizons. The location does half the framing for you—if the symbol is strong enough. With backpacks, we didn’t need spectacle. We needed quiet insistence.

    What I delivered (end-to-end)

    From concept to execution, I led the project across strategy, design, and production:

    • Creative direction & campaign system: social stories, key visuals, message hierarchy
    • Stunt production: mockups → budget plan → vendors → on-site coordination
    • Operational coordination: fixer, videographer, legal consultation.
    • Content creation on location: capture, edits, rapid turnaround assets for social
    • OOH adaptation: video/stills for digital panels along one of the capital’s main avenues during the voting week
    • Web: a campaign landing page and video for “Regular para Proteger”

    Results (measured like an NGO actually has to measure)

    • The image became widely circulated in press coverage about PL 2630 and the day’s mobilizations.
    • The “Nudge”: While the bill was ultimately archived due to intense lobbying and the dismissal of the vote, our installation provided the media with a tactile, undeniable anchor for the human story.
    • Global Reach: Featured on Reuters, Al Jazeera, and all major national front pages (Folha, Estadão, Globo, Correio Braziliense, G1, R7, Terra, Uol, Veja, Carta Capital, etc.)
    • Earned Media Value (press clipping estimate): ~US$1M, calculated from the advertising-equivalent value of positive/neutral coverage, discounting negative pieces and weighting for brand exposure (method used in internal press reporting).
    • Legacy: To this day, it remains the top visual reference for the NGO’s work in Brazil.

    Semiotic takeaway

    A policy debate is abstract until you can point to something concrete. In this case, the backpack worked as an index of absence—and the installation worked as a cenotaph, turning absence into a public, shareable image with ethical gravity.

    Context note

    That same night, the vote was postponed—and in 2024 Congress publicly signaled the text would be reworked by a new group. But the campaign image kept circulating, becoming part of the debate’s visual archive: proof that, in politics, what is seen can outlast what is scheduled.